Music is one of my most favourite things ever. I cannot live without it. Music has formed an integral part of my life and it's as important to my health and well being as oxygen and water.
I have very fond memories of listening eagerly to the radio, back in the days when Radio 2 became glorious Radio 1 at 5pm on Sunday evenings, with fingers poised over the play/record buttons ready to tape my favourite songs. I can recall doing that as early as 1982 - making me 8 years old. Looking back, that's a pretty young age to be obsessed with music. My friends didn't get into music in any kind of serious way until much later in life. So, what was it that lured me in at such a young age?
I grew up as the youngest of 6 kids, my eldest sibling being 17 years older than me. From every room there was a different type of music blaring out. Downstairs, Dad would be listening to opera or classical music, Mum preferring easy listening standards. Upstairs was much more exciting to an impressionable mind - Queen, Pink Floyd, ELO, The Beatles, Blondie, Gary Glitter, T-rex, Genesis, The Osmonds, Abba, Elvis Presley, Adam and the Ants, Altered Images, Prince, the list goes on. To say that exposure to this melting pot of genres had a profound effect on me is a gross understatement.
Walkmans became popular in the early 80's and quickly became my most treasured possession and also my sanctuary. Whatever the mood, that tiny (OK, not tiny by today's mp3 standards, but tiny compared to the huge 80's style hi-fi's) magical box contained the perfect accompaniment.
Today I still have my trusty sidekick never more than 6ft away from me, although my little pal has morphed into an iPod classic. I love him. Not in a weird 'I married my car' way, but with an affection that runs deep through my veins. There are many reasons I love my iPod - the ease of putting my music collection in to a compact portable device, the way I can easily organise my collection by artist or album alphabetically and the 'genius' thingy that makes suggestions on other songs and artists you might like based on your tastes - but the best thing about my iPod is the ability to create play lists. It's like being transported back to my childhood living room on a Sunday evening creating the ultimate mix tape.
When creating a play list, you are no longer reliant on the people at 'Now that's what I call music' to create a compilation of your favourite chart tracks. You no longer have to have that crappy side B of tape 2. You can cut out the rubbish and indulge yourself to your heart's musical content. Once you have grown tired of that play list, you can simply amend or delete without having a sad dejected C90 collecting dust on your shelf. I have a number of play lists on my iPod. I've created the ultimate greatest hits collection of my favourite artists and also the perfect Christmas play list. I'm particularly proud of that last one.
And then there is the eternal question. The question that can make or break budding relationships or friendships....What's your favourite song? Just one song that you love above all others. It's hard, right? To me it's like picking a favourite child. The pressure is immense. If your answer is met with derision, laughter or a simple nod of the head signalling approval it can seriously affect your relationship with the person asking the question. I once completely changed my opinion of someone that I could have potentially been very good friends with, all because her answer to this most serious of questions was a track from the heinous band Keane. Shameful. It still saddens me to this day when I think about what could have been if she had only answered with anything other than bloody Keane! (oh and Celine Dion - that's a deal breaker too)
I have managed to get my answers down to a shortlist of 2 - 'Don't change' by INXS and Ravel's 'Bolero'. But I have another secret favourite that I rarely tell people. It's a guilty pleasure track. One so embarrassing that it could have the power to relegate me to the status of 'colleague' or 'someone I met once' by my friends and loved ones. But despite the danger, I still cannot break the spell that this song holds over me. When I am down, it instantly cheers me. When I am happy, it joins me in my revelry. It's a song that takes me by the hand and leads me down memory lane, lets me have my moment of nostalgia and then gently brings me back to the present day with a smile on my face.
What is this magical song that I treasure so dearly? Well, for starters I can tell you what it's not - bloody Keane! No, that would be a secret far to shameful to blog about.
The song that I love above all others is an old song. One that has been my friend since I was very young and never ever let me down. That song is........
Oh yeah right, like I'm going to admit it to the world?!
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